Pupils traumatised by life in ‘war zone’

Cape Town 150225 -A young girl playing in a street in Lavender Hill in the heart of gangland r. Picture Brenton Geach

Cape Town 150225 -A young girl playing in a street in Lavender Hill in the heart of gangland r. Picture Brenton Geach

Published Feb 26, 2015

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Cape Town - The wounding of a 12-year-old Lavender Hill girl in the crossfire of a gang shooting highlighted the trauma pupils and teachers in the area’s six schools have to endure in a “war zone”.

The schools are Lavender Hill High as well as five primary schools – Prince George, Levana and Hillwood, all in Lavender Hill, as well as Zerilda Park in Seawinds and Capricorn In Vrygrond.

Police spokesman Tembinkosi Kinana said the girl had been playing outside Arundel Court on Saturday when she heard gunshots and was wounded in the chest while running home.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, he said. Police were investigating a case of attempted murder and no arrests had been made.

Lavender Hill High School principal Fasieg Manie, highlighting the trauma such incidents causes among pupils and teachers, said: “It affects them in a multi-faceted way. They could be wounded or shot dead.

“For instance, in 2012, I had a pupil who was shot dead. And a few weeks later another girl was shot at night in crossfire and had to undergo six to eight operations as part of her recovery process.

“There is also psychological and emotional trauma, because on occasion Lavender Hill resembles a war zone. If pupils and teachers don’t get proper counselling, it could psychologically have a debilitating effect on them.

“Damage could be permanent and add to our future problems of poverty and unemployment.”

Manie felt that there needed to be intervention from NGOs, religious institutions and the Trauma Centre.

He said the effect of the ongoing violence on teachers was that it affected class attendance by pupils.

“Teachers have to deal with low morale on their and the pupils’ part. In many cases teachers feel uninspired and demotivated because of the negative impact the violence has on pupils,” Manie said.

“Teachers feel unsafe. Their families may question why they persist in coming to school. For example, I had two brilliant teachers resigning in 2012 and 2014 because of the violence.

“Our school is relatively safe at the moment because there are no shootings in our immediate vicinity.

“We have managed to secure the school with a bullet-deflective fence to control access so that violence doesn’t spill over on to our school premises.”

Capricorn Primary principal Seddika Hassan said they advised their pupils to stay indoors at school when gunfire erupted.

Some teachers living in the area had spoken of “excessive murders” because of gunfire, especially in the nearby Overcome Heights informal settlement and Lavender Hill, Hassan said.

“Pupils come to school traumatised because of gunfire they have heard throughout the night, especially when there are electricity outages at night.”

Whenever there is gunfire, her staff, especially from Capricorn and Seawinds, became very anxious and traumatised, Hassan said. The school had a social worker who counselled the pupils and teachers whenever violence erupted, she said.

Cape Times

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